Juno witnessed a meteor crash on Jupiter

2021-02-22 23:26:30

The Juno space probe recorded, for the first time, the result of the impact of what could be an asteroid or a meteor on Jupiter. Research on the gas giant was carried out by the team at Rohini Giles Southwest Research Institute in Texas. Before they came to the conclusion that this fireball was caused by the impact of a celestial body on Jupiter, they had to go through a series of eliminations.

Juno was a spectator of this formidable phenomenon last year, more precisely on April 10, 2020. While its initial mission was to remain in orbit around Jupiter to observe the auroras of this planet, an incident occurred. Thanks to its UVS (ultraviolet spectrograph), Juno was able to detect a rather particular light.

Credits Pixabay

The Juno probe was launched in 2011 to conduct studies on Jupiter, remaining in its orbit. The satellite reached its destination 5 years after its launch, in 2016. Since this year, it has not been able to detect any such event.

About 24,000 collisions each year on Jupiter?

During the last ten years, astronomers have managed to observe about six impacts from our planet. Voyager 1 and Galileo, along with other space probes, have also spotted object crashes on Jupiter. The largest collision on Jupiter ever recorded, however, remains that of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994.

Asteroid or comet impacts are frequent phenomena on Jupiter. The gravitational force of the planet attracts several bodies because it is the second most massive star in the solar system. Compared to previous observations, Juno's provided more detail, grThanks to its more efficient equipment.

Dr. Giles' team was able to measure the temperature released by the collision, which is above 9,000 ° C. This is how the researchers succeeded in determining that the mass of this object ranged from 250 to 5,000 kg. Its size varies from one to four meters in diameter with a length equivalent to that of an automobile. Based on this information, the researchers believe that approximately 24,000 collisions associated with this same body type occur on Jupiter each year.

The information provided by Juno has helped scientists refine estimates regarding the speed of objects impacting Jupiter. At the same time, they looked at the increase in the mass of the gas giant because of these impacts.

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